Parking, sewer discussed

Thursday

May 16, 2013 at 1:23 PMMay 16, 2013 at 1:25 PM

Lois Westermeyer

Two Pontiac City Council committees met Monday afternoon to discuss downtown parking and extending sewer service on 4-H Park Road.The Community Services Committee met to discuss possible options to help keep people from parking in the same location all day, so that shoppers can find easier access to stores and restaurants.The committee had discussed increasing a parking fine from $2 to $10, but members of the City Council wanted other options explored. A consensus of council members was that there were just a handful of repeat offenders, while the stiffer fine would punish shoppers as well as parking limit violators.Committee member Donovan Gardner said the committee would look into the purchase of an electronic device that could scan a license plate and tell the parking officer whether the car had moved within a certain amount of time.City Administrator Bob Karls said the city would look at purchasing such equipment if it is within reason as a way to combat the problem.Committee member Kelly Eckhoff stated that if a program was adopted, the first couple of offenses would receive a warning and minimal fine, but that fees would accelerate for repeat offenders.“We just want to improve parking for customers, which helps the downtown retailers,” she said.The committee will also look at remapping parking areas and perhaps change hours to shorter times around the downtown core area and extend hours for spaces around the perimeter.The Utilities Committee also met to discuss extending sewer service to six houses on the south side of 4-H Park Road, which are opposite of Vermilion Plaza.Todd Campbell, sewer department supervisor, said the project could cost between $30,000 to go to three houses or $50,000 to go to all six houses, which are just outside city limits.The city cannot annex these properties into city limits, but the property owners can request annexation. Campbell said the property closest to Route 23 has agreed to annex if the sewer main is extended.The cost to hook up to the sewer system is normally $5,000, but if the homeowners agree before the project begins, the committee recommended they be given a cost of $2,500 to hook onto the system.“It is worth the cost to eliminate septic sewer systems,” Karls said.Campbell said part of the cost would come from having to establish at least one more manhole and possibly two.“There’s a manhole on the north side of the road, near Route 23. That line would have to be extended to the south and then to the west. If all six homes come in, a manhole would have to be placed in the middle.”The supervisor noted that it would take awhile to get permits from the Environmental Protection Agency, giving property owners about six months’ time to annex if they choose.Karls said there was money in the budget for the project under capital improvement funds.Committee member Frank Panno said this was a project that had been discussed for years and it was time something was done.The committee will recommend the project to the full council at Monday’s meeting.